The following relates generally to wireless communications. Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code-division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time-division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency-division multiple access (FDMA) systems, and orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) systems.
Generally, a wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations (e.g., eNBs), each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple wireless devices (e.g., user equipment or UE). The base stations may communicate with wireless devices on downstream and upstream links. Each base station has a coverage range, which may be referred to as the coverage area of the cell.
In some cases, a wireless device may need to communicate with multiple cells or cell layers that are not collocated (i.e., each cell is associated with a different base station). For example, the wireless device may be in communication with a macro cell (e.g., PCell) and may also need to communicate with a small cell (e.g., SCell). The connection between the wireless device and the small cell, however, may not occur fast enough to avoid communication bottlenecks.